We recently completed upgrade and development work on Forget Me Not, a web platform that we originally developed and launched in September 2018 for creating personal digital memory boxes to be used as support for soothing reminiscence sessions for people living with dementia.
With a close connection to the realities of Dementia, and the loss of my dear Dad to this awful disease, it was weirdly nice to have the opportunity to work on a web project that provided support for families with a connection to both Alzheimer's and Dementia conditions.
The World Health Organisation estimates that by 2050, over 18 million European citizens will be suffering from dementia. Yet there is no cure and no disease-modifying treatment currently available.
As the Forget Me Not site says:
“One of the key non-medicinal approaches is reminiscence. Reminiscence is a well-established practice that has been used widely since the 1960s to improve the lives of people living with dementia. It gives people the opportunity to share their stories and experiences, and helps them remember who they are. This can boost their self-confidence and social interactions and make valuable connections between their past and the present. In most care settings, this takes the form of a ‘Memory Box’ which is used to collect photos, cuttings and artefacts.”
So, the concept for Forget Me Not was simple and straightforward in its purpose - to give families a method for sharing memories and images, etc., in a secure way and invite others to participate too.
With families often now being geographically dispersed, the ability to share information can become harder. Of course, we have Facebook and this is often used for this type of material, but posts are then pushed aside by yet another humorous feed update!
Forget Me Not gives people the opportunity to share their stories and experiences, and helps them remember who they are through a dedicated digital service developed for this sole purpose.
The website was translated into 9 languages to try and cover the primary use areas in Europe.
Recently, as with any web platform, there was a need to carry out a general upgrade to the technology that underpins the site. This was to update the core Content Management System, to the latest release, as well as the modules that display the content. This also provided the opportunity to revisit some aspects of the technology and make some changes and improvements.
The team at Forget Me Not had also been thinking about how the website could work better for those who use the platform. This resulted in an update to the site navigation as well as a new addition page/ resource that highlights local partners in various countries in Europe, acting as a directory for other organisations in the sector that help to support people and families who have Dementia in their lives.
What started as an Erasmus+ project in 2017 has now become a true ecosystem for all those involved in reminiscence as a non-pharmaceutical approach for people living with dementia and their carers. I hope that the website continues to deliver for the users and continues to grow in the number of people that create an account, which is free, to upload and store their own memories.
As the website says: "Our senses create memories...., but reminiscence protects them."